Edible Holiday Gifts Perfect For Your Neighbours

You’ve receive more pre-packaged biscotti than you know what to do with—to re-gift, or not regift? If you want your neighbors to add it to their pile of sugar-infused generic sweets, sure, hand ’em over. But if you want to show your neighbors some real neighborly love, give an edible gift they’ll actually be thankful to receive.

These three edible gift ideas don’t include copious amounts of chocolate, peppermint extract, or candy cane dust, and won’t take longer to prepare than a batch of cookies. How’s that for a novel idea?

Shopping days and weekend guests require a nutritious breakfast. A pre-measured baking mix makes a batch of homemade muffins easy—all the receiver has to do is mix in the wet ingredients and bake.

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup chopped dried apple

1/2 cup chopped almonds

Mix together and pour into a mason jar. Attach this print-out label, which includes the three extra ingredients and baking directions, to the jar with a ribbon.

Gourmet Fruit and Nut Granola

(Makes: 12 cups)

Ina Garten’s homemade granola recipe is packed with nuts and dried fruit, and is a perfect winter-morning breakfast or afternoon snack. This recipe can be tweaked according to fruit / nut preferences, but we think it’s pretty perfect as is.

4 cup old fashioned rolled oats

2 cups shredded coconut

2 cups sliced almonds

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1/2 cup honey or maple syrup

1 1/2 cups chopped dried apricots

1 cup chopped dried figs

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup unsalted cashews

Toss the oats, coconut, almonds together in a bowl. Whisk the honey and oil together in a separate bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir until coated. Pour mixture into a 13 X 8 X 1 inch sheet pan.

Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden and aromatic – about 45 minutes. Remove granola from the oven and allow to cool. Add the dried fruit and cashews. Store in mason jars.

These slightly-sweet bars are a healthy grab-and-go snack for afternoon gift shopping or party panning days, but they’re a little more decadent than your average Quaker bar. Pistachios and dried cranberries add soe festive flavour.

2 cups uncooked old-fashioned rolled oats

¾ cup sweetened dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

½ cup salted, dry roasted pistachios, chopped

1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut, chopped

2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup creamy peanut butter

6 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

¼ tablespoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan evenly with cooking spray, set aside. Spread oats evenly in a large baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix browned oats, cranberries, pistachios, coconut, flaxseed meal and chocolate. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine peanut butter, honey, oil and salt, and bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour peanut butter mixture over oat mixture and toss well to coat.